


before i fall.

by lonelyheartsclub_com



Category: Murder Most Unladylike Series - Robin Stevens
Genre: M/M, before i fall AU but it's just the last day :), enjoy getting ur heart ripped out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-18
Updated: 2021-01-18
Packaged: 2021-03-17 02:34:20
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,093
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28841706
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lonelyheartsclub_com/pseuds/lonelyheartsclub_com
Summary: bertie wells has repeated his last day again and again and he finally knows what he has to do - what he has to sacrifice.
Relationships: Harold Mukherjee/Bertie Wells
Kudos: 5





	before i fall.

**Author's Note:**

> tw // vehicular manslaughter, death, suicide

On the last day of Bertie Mountfitchet-Wells' life, he woke up at 6:22 like he did every other day. He turned his alarm off, and he texted Alfred to make sure he was being driven to school.

At 6:55, Bertie went downstairs to get himself some breakfast, and he saw his Aunt Lucy and Uncle Felix in the kitchen, having a laugh over something. He smiled, and he hugged his aunt. 

"Oh, poppet, thank you for the hug!" Lucy said, kissing him on the forehead. Bertie clung to her for a while, taking in the scent of her Chanel perfume. He wanted to cry, but she had a nice dress on and he didn't want to ruin that.

"Do I not get a hug, Bertie? I'm so offended." Felix joked, and Bertie put down his bag to hug his Uncle Felix, who hugged him tight in return. He felt his eyes prickle with tears. 

"I'm gonna get going, so I'll see you later. I love you both, truly." Lucy and Felix glanced at each other, but they smiled at him as he left.

Then, at 7, Alfred showed up, a lopsided grin on his face. 

"Bertie! You forgot your gloves, silly!" Daisy shouted. Daisy was Bertie's 12 year old sister, and she was one of the most brilliant people he'd been lucky enough to know. He took his gloves from her, and he put them on. Daisy stared at him with blue eyes, and Bertie looked down at the floor to hide the tears. This was his only chance to say goodbye.

"Thank you, Daisy. What would I do without you?" he asked, kneeling to hug her. She ran into his arms, and he cried, tears of happiness and tears of pride. He had imprinted Daisy's life in a good way.

"You'd crash and burn," she teased, Bertie nodded. She was right - but she was rarely ever wrong. 

"I love you, Daisy. Never forget that." and he got up, brushing his knees off because he had gotten snow all over them. He turned to face Alfred after she ran back inside, and he simply smiled. Bertie looked around the Mountfitchet-Wells' house. It was relatively big, seeing as a lot of the money Daisy and Bertie's bio parents used to have went to Felix and Lucy after they got custody. It was home, and it had been since Bertie was 8 and Daisy was 4. 

He was going to miss it. 

"You alright, Bertie? Been doing weed or something?" Alfred asked, a harsh but caring tone to the statement. Bertie simply laughed and wrapped his arms around Alfred's shoulders. 

"I love you, Alfred. You're like my brother." He loved his friend, despite all tings he'd said and done. Alfred Cheng was like that, Bertie thought. You just couldn't hate him.

"Ew, what is with this mushy shit?" Alfred said, pretending to push Bertie away. Really, Alfred leaned into the hug. 

"I might just drop off the face of the earth today, so this is your only chance to say goodbye!" Bertie joked, but he wasn't lying. 

"Well, I love you too. Now, get in, bitch. We have to go pick up Manda and Henry, remember?" Alfred said, getting into the driver's seat and Bertie getting into the passenger's.

They sung along to Lana Del Rey songs as loud as they could. 

"No, Alf, you cannot turn Florida Kilos up to 100. The police would arrest you."

"Bah, humbug." Alfred mumbled, and he turned Florida Kilos all the way up. He laughed and enjoyed the show of Alfred's horrid singing. 

Henry skipped along the path to the car, messing with her curly hair. She got in the back seat, and Alfred smiled at her. After they picked Amanda up, they stopped by a fast food shop for breakfast. 

"Okay, cunts, let's get this show on the road!" Alfred exclaimed dramatically, speeding way over the limit. They all laughed. 

Bertie hesitated when he got to school, and he remembered he had something to do. He went down to the office, and he ordered a bunch of Val-o-Grams for Harold.

And he ordered one for Verity Abraham. 

Verity Abraham was the poor soul that everyone decided it would be funny to bully, for something that had happened years back, but Bertie would be lying if he said he hadn't bullied her as well. He regretted it. And a million days ago, back when it was the 11th of February, he hadn't cared about anyone but himself. 

He got loads of Val-O-Grams, including one from Stephen. Bertie sighed, and he realised he couldn't do this any longer. 

Stephen Bampton was his boyfriend, and Stephen was also his worst enemy. He did things to hurt Bertie, and then he'd make it all up with a kiss, sweet words and a date. He was rude to Bertie's friends, rude to Bertie's family, and he seemed to be rude to everyone but Bertie. It needed to stop.

"This isn't working, Stephen." Bertie said, trying to be as clear as possible.

"You cannot break up with me." Stephen said, voice dangerously low. Bertie smiled, and it turned into a laugh. 

"I can. And I think I just did." 

"I should've picked Alfred." he hissed, and he stalked off, bumping into the one person Bertie had been looking to speak to the most. "Watch where you're going,-!" He called Harold something rather rude, and Harold shoved him and walked off.

Harold Mukherjee was Bertie's old primary school best friend. They would spend hours talking about what they'd do when they were in Sixth Form, what they'd take for GCSE, who they'd date. Bertie had always wanted to date Harold, but he'd been going out with Stephen since they were 14. He'd never even gotten the chance to look at Harold again since then, because Stephen had always forced them away from each other. 

"Harold!"

"Ah, Bertie, just the man I wanted to catch." he beamed, and Bertie looked down at the roses in his hand. There was one that was white, and it had pink edges, and Bertie thought back to the first time he died, and he remembered that it was from Harold.

"Thank you, for the rose."

"Who said I sent it?" Bertie teased, but Harold simply laughed and read out the card. 

""My knight in shining armour'? You do remember what happened in year 3, don't you?"

Bertie nodded. In year 3, Harold's older sister Jesa died of something Harold never spoke about, and Harold got laughed at. One day, Chummy, one of the Melling twins (who were both killed in an accident last year) laughed at Harold and spilled his drink all down Harold. Bertie went up to the twins, and he spilled his drink all over Chummy and said his hand slipped. Harold thanked him and called Bertie his knight in shining armour, and he promised he'd be Bertie's if he ever needed it. 

"Thank you. Um, I'm having a party, since-"

"Your mum and dad are on a business trip out of town, yeah. I'll be there, Harold. I have something to tell you. A secret, I guess. See you later." Harold had gone very flustered, and Bertie just smiled and laughed before turning to go to 5th period. 

Bertie sat in the history lesson, and it was a weird feeling, knowing that this was the last lesson he'd ever sit in. He looked over at Alfred spraying his Lynx Africa everywhere, and he looked at Amanda trying to wrangle it away from him whilst Henry recorded it for her Snap story.

They took crappy photos with bad filters, and they laughed when their teacher told them to settle down. 

And soon enough the bell rung. Bertie didn't know why he felt some aching feeling as he realised it was for the final time that he would ever hear that bell. He packed all his bags away, and they all drove to Harold's house.

Bertie felt tears welling up in his eyes as he saw the house he used to visit every day after school. Bertie could see Harold's younger brother, George, who was the same age as Daisy, feeling mildly uncomfortable with his headphones on. Bertie smiled at him, and he smiled back, giving a slight wave.

He bumped into someone, and it was Harold. He smiled, and he stopped talking to Alfred. "I believe you owe me a secret, Wells." he said and Bertie pulled him into his room, beaming. 

"Yep. And that secret is," Bertie hesitated for a moment, running his hands through Harold's hair. "I love you, more than I've ever loved anyone else." Harold breathed softly, and then he swallowed. He looked Bertie in the eyes for a moment, and then he kissed Bertie.

"Why'd you tell me now?"

"Because I only just realised that I needed to push someone out of the frame to bring you into the bigger picture. But it's too late." Bertie muttered, looking at his watch. _00:33._

Bertie Wells had 6 minutes left to live. Bertie could hear the door open, and he could see Verity standing there, and he could almost see the thoughts swirling around in her head.

"Verity, listen to me-" Bertie started but she shook her head. She was crying, and Bertie could see the years of pain in her eyes. 

She flinched away from Bertie's hand, and then she started running. _00:35._ 4 minutes.

"Bertie - why would you kiss me and then run off?" Harold asked, hurt in his eyes. 

"I can't do this right now, Harold. I need you to trust me."

"Are you in trouble?" Bertie shook his head, and he could feel his time slipping away. 

"Trust me, love." Bertie said, kissing Harold again and following Verity out to where she had run off to.

He knew Harold was running after him, and he wanted to tell him not to, but there was no point. Someone was going to die at 00:39, and it was not going to be Verity Abraham. 

"Verity!" Bertie shouted, and she stopped. She was about to run into the main road. "You're going to be okay, I promise." she shook her head again, and she brushed her long, dark hair out of her face. Bertie felt a deep pang of regret. 

_00:37._

The truck was fast approaching. "Verity, listen to me. You are going to be okay. It isn't you that needs to change, it's everyone else."

"What are you talking about? Why are you being so nice to me?" Verity asked, and she tried to shuffle closer to the road.

"I know what you have planned, and it's not going to happen." Bertie responded, ignoring her question.

_00:38_

"I can't be saved, Bertie. It's a nice sentiment, but give it up." Bertie wanted to hug her.

Verity Abraham jumped out into the road as the clock hit 00:39, and Bertie Wells pushed her out of the way. Bertie didn't have time to run himself, and the last thing he could see was the blinding headlights of the truck.

Bertie didn't save Verity to seem noble, or because he regretted how he used to treat her. He pushed her out of the way because she deserved a second chance, and he knew that he didn't, since he'd had a million second chances and he'd blown all of them. 

When the clock hit 10 to, Lucy Mountfitchet was awaken by the knocking her door. Daisy rushed down too, and they looked to see police standing there.

They had informed Lucy that Bertie was dead.

They had spent the last 11 minutes trying to revive Bertie. 

_"One, two, three, clear!" Nothing. They tried it again, and again, and again, until Verity shrieked out that he was dead and Harold had to hold her back because Bertie had died saving her. Alfred Cheng came running out soon after, and he cried out._

_"Bertie! What did they do to you- Mukherjee, what happened?"_

_"A car hit him. Verity tried to run into the road and Bertie pushed her out of the way." Harold responded, trying to keep his voice as even as possible, although it was miserably failing._

_Alfred shuddered for a moment. Then, he hugged Verity and whispered something Harold couldn't hear._

Lucy could only cry.

The funeral was on the following Monday but no one could sit through it without crying. 

Bertie Wells did not get a tomorrow, and it impacted more people than he thought it would've. 


End file.
